Assembly board for mats



Dec. 24, 1940. R. H. PARKER 2,225,440

ASSEMBLY BOARD FOR MATS Filed April 17, 1939 2 Sheefs-Sheet 2 m I h| rWWW WWW m W W m M M Patented Dec. 24, 1940 UNITED STATESASSEMBLYBOARDFQRMATS Robert Parker; Lakewood; Ohio, assignor of one-halftoWilliam H. Donaldson, Lakewood,

fOhio Application April'l'l. 1939.seriaiNaassnm 2 Claims. (01. 29--89)Thisrinvention relates: ingeneral to floormats and more particularly tonew and useful devices for manufacturing floor mats made up fromtransversely arranged, spaced, perforated links to a flexible matstructure. In these mats the links of fibrous or rubber-like materialaccording to present day manufacturingimethods are mounted one by one onconnecting rods orpintles,.preferably of U-shape, until all links arethreaded upon the rods, and then the ends of these rods arerectangularly bent and united together to finish the thus madematstructure. However, this manufacturing method for floor mats is slowand costly and, in addition, makes production of properly 1?) sized,flexible mats rather difiicult, due to the fact that the operatorcontrols lateral compression of the links when the ends of theconnecting rods are bent after assembly of the links.

It is the primary object of the present inven- 20 tion to simplifymanufacturing of floor mats of the type referred to by providing anassembly board adapted to effect proper location and alignment ofperforated links prior to their assembly to a mat and permitting ofconnecting 25 rods being threaded through the localized and alignedperforated links in a simple and eflicient manner, so as to rapidlyproduce a finished mat structure.

Another object of the invention is the provision 30 of an assembly boardfor floor mats having a plurality of symmetrically arranged,specifically sized overlapping recesses, each of which permits of a linkbeing placed therein, the recesses being arranged in overlappingrelation with re- 5 spect to each other for effecting threading of linksplaced into adjoining recesses by elongated connecting rods extendedthrough the aligned perforations of said links.

A further object of the invention is the provi- 40 sion of an assemblyboard for floor mats having a plurality of symmetrically arranged,equally sized, overlapping recesses in its top face permitting of properassembly of links to a floor mat structure, said assembly board havingits re- 45 cesses extended to the top of the board and including lateralplain extensions in the plane of the recesses for permitting ofexcessively sized floor mats being assembled and manufactured on saidassembly board.

so In addition, the invention has certain other marked superioritieswhich radically distinguish it from presently known structures. Theseimprovements or superiorities embodying certain novel features ofconstruction are clearly set g5 forth in the following specification andthe appended claims; and a preferred form of embodiment of the inventionis hereinafter shown with reference to the accompanying drawings formingpartof the specification.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan View of the working and assembly board according to theinvention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the board shown in Fig.1, the section being taken on line 22 of said figure.

10" Figure 3 1s a cross sectional view through the board shown in Fig.1, the section being taken on-line 3-3 of said figure.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the board shown in Fig.

' 1 with links placed in the recesses of the board and partly assembledto a mat structure.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the links used in the matstructure.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the metal end plates of the mat.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a connecting rod.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of one of the end rolls of the mat; and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the clip used to interlock the bent endsof the connecting rod shown in Fig. '7.

Referring more particularly to the drawings reference numeral 2represents a working and assembly board of any suitable material such aswood,iron or plastics. This board embodies a base plate 3 having fourcorners mounted on blocks or legs 4, and supporting a plurality ofelongated strips 5, each of which is secured to transversely base plate3 lengthwise thereof in any suitable manner. These strips each embody aplurality of equally spaced recesses 6 having straight end walls I,which recesses are arranged in the face of said strips and form in saidstrips a plurality of rectangular posts or elevations 8. In addition,the recesses in adjoining strips 5 are laterally and symmetricallyoffset with respect to each other to effect overlapping of the recessesin adjoining strips and arrange the posts or elevations 8 of all thestrips in symmetric rows, rectangularly related to the bottom edge 9 ofboard 2. 5

The uppermost strip 5 on base plate 3 is substantially flush with theupper edge of said base plate and all strips 5, including uppermoststrip 5', abut with their opposite ends edge borders H) on base plate 3,top faces I ll of which are arranged flush with respect to recesses 6 insaid strips, all as clearly shown in the drawings.

The thus constructed working and assembly board 2 permits of individuallinks H being properly placed and located in recesses 6 of strips 5, asthe offset relation of adjoining recesses in adjoining strips permits ofholding the links at all sides in proper position and simultaneouslyeffects proper alignment of the perforated ends I2 of links I I, so thatperforations I4 in said links are aligned and permit of connecting rodsI5 being readily and easily threaded through the perforations I4 of saidlinks, see Fig. 4. Preferably, connecting rods I4 are of U-shape toexpedite manufacturing and permit of most simple securing of said rodsin the mat structure by bending the ends I6 thereof inwardly andsecuring the bent edges to each other by means of clips I'I. At the sideedges the thus manufactured mat includes end rolls I8 which are alsothreaded on rods I5 and effect a symmetrical design of the mat at itsedges, a destruction or cutting in of the end links by connecting rodsI5 is prohibited by metal links I9 which are placed between rods I5 andlinks 5.

The edge borders 9 have their upper faces arranged fiush with recesses 6of strips 5 to permit of mats of any desired length being readilyassembled on the board. Thus, when mats of excessive size are to bemanufactured, the mat is made in sections, first one section of the matis finished in the manner above described and then the finished sectionof the mat is moved laterally and secured in one or more rows ofrecesses of the board, whereupon manufacturing of the next section canreadily be eifected on the board. This procedure of manufacture is alsousable for mats having excessive width, as the uppermost strip 5' isarranged flush with the upper edge of base plate 2 and permits alsosectional manufacturing of the mat in the direction of its width.

It will now be seen that the thus described working and assembly boardpermits of manufacture of floor mats of any size and width in a simpleand economic manner by unskilled operators and even blind operators, asthe recesses 6 and square posts 8 permit of proper assembly of mats bymere touch.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. An assembling and working board for floor mats comprising a baseplate, a row of elongated posts extending across one face of the baseplate from one end thereof to the other and all elongated in thedirection of the row, said posts being spaced from each other a distancegreater than the said length of a post, and additional rows of similarposts parallel to said first row and situated side by side, with theposts of each row staggered in relation to the posts of adjacent rows toprovide channels across the rows.

2. An assembling and working board for floor mats as described in claim1 including at one side of said base plate an elongated plain area(without posts) to permit of assembling of excessive long floor mats onsaid board.

3. An assembling and working board for floor mats as described in claim1 including at one side and the lower portion of said base plateelongated plain areas (without posts) to permit of assembling ofexcessive wide and long floor mats on said board.

ROBERT H. PARKER.

